Monday, June 15, 2009

They just arrived from the printer! New editions of three of our laminate titles:Twin Cities Metro Area has been thoroughly updated and field-checked, including the new alignments of US 12, US 212 and MN 36. We've revised all the point of interest and hotel locations, and noted (with a sigh) the loss of a handful of par-3 golf courses.

Northern Minnesota is the first major overhaul in 3 years, and reflects changes in all of its many maps, both city and regional.

Finally, University of Iowa and Iowa City includes new campus buildings and notes the closures due to the 2008 floods (for up-to-the-minute information, see www.iowa.edu/floodrecovery). On the other side, a thorough revision of local streets, including the new Coralville riverfront development, is shown.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

First up, the Edina and St Louis Park Bike Map is the second Minnehaha Media title, focusing on trails and street routes in those two Minneapolis suburbs and surrounding areas. It shows clearly how to access the Grand Rounds in Minneapolis, including the Chain of Lakes parks, and also the Cedar Lake Trail/Southwest LRT Trail loop through St Louis Park and Hopkins. It includes mileages both on trails and on approach roads.

The map is available free from our sponsors and other locations in the area, or for purchase in quantity from us. Single copies are also available from us for purchase if you are unable to get to one of the free distribution points. Finally, wall versions of the map are available in two sizes: 24 x 36" and 36 x 54".

We plan on more of our free-distribution titles in the coming months. Watch this space, or better yet contact us for more information, or to tell us your idea for a map project supported by your organization!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The new edition of our Minneapolis Trails Map is out now! Soon it will be available for free throughout the Minneapolis Parks system, and at our sponsors' locations. Please support our sponsors and thank them for their support.

Our new edition is a little larger than the fall edition (12" x 18" instead of 11" x 17"), and goes north to the city line, and east and west a little further as well. We're happy with result and hope you will be too.

Since 2002, we've been publishing the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association's guide to the stairs and walking trails of Berkeley, California. We've just printed and they've just released the revised 5th edition of the Berkeley Pathways map. Besides perennial revisions as paths are repaired, we have added Berkeley's Bicycle Boulevards.

If you've never walked Berkeley's Hills, it's a great experience. We encourage anyone visiting the Bay area to take the time to buy one of these maps (available in stores all over Berkeley) and explore! You can also use our Professor Pathfinder's Berkeley map to explore the University of California campus and the commercial area around it.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Well, not exactly the photo my friend Ben Olk had last year capturing him shaking then candidate Obama’s hand at a rally, but still pretty cool anyways.

First a plug for Ben: Ben has a great story of how he maneuvered himself within a handshake range at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul last year – maybe his luck as Ben is President of another St Paul instituition, 100+ year old National Checking Company. National Checking makes those ubiquitous green “GuestChecks” (shown at left). Those are the pads that a waitperson writes on so that they can be more accurate and efficient. I’ve seen them at coffeeshops and recently at a Buffalo Wild Wings – I always make a point of complimenting the use of GuestChecks!

Now, on to the Hedberg Maps NY Times experience… a small photo, but still on page 1. On March 31 about an inch and a half square photo included the cover of our U.S. College and Unviersity Reference Map. The version shown was a custom print run for the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). We’ve long been told by educational counselors and consultants that this map is one of the most used counseling tools, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it showed up on the top of the stack of materials in the photo, but I was still thrilled.

The article focused on the financial end of the college search process. Frequently quoted was Diane Geller, current president of IECA. IECA members are a great way to go for a family to work through the daunting college search process. They have completed extensive training and are well versed in all aspects of the college search. We were fortunate that they chose to utilize our map with IECA branding and included a number of the benefits of working with one of their consultants.

Look for new changes soon including activation of our email notification list, a new look in the web store, and new easy-to use introduction pages like those for CollegeMaps.com and the Youth Sports Atlas.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

For years, we've known of mapping people want, but that just didn't fit our established formats or distribution network. So, we've created a division dedicated to seriously great mapping - for free. Sort of. Including ads makes these maps free... but unlike many other free maps (where the creator took anything they could find and called it a map), Minnehaha Media starts with the premise that if you create a great map with great content, the map will be used over and over and actually benefit the sponsors.

One of the most interesting parts of working on these maps was researching the transitional teams—those moving from one division to another. There's a long process: several years of auditing and preparation, then several years of probationary membership. Then finally you are officially able to play in championships in your new division. But what I found curious is that while the NCAA does a great job of providing membership lists, almost no one including the schools themselves wants to publish on the web what the target date of finishing the probationary period is. We ended up calling the athletic offices of all the transitional teams to get the information, and put it on the map.

Friday, March 20, 2009

We're happy to announce release of the 2009 edition (the 11th or 12th... I've lost count) of the Baseball Travel Map. The map locates all the professional baseball teams in the US and Canada and the northern part of Mexico, with an index with contact information on the back. The map also locates every baseball-themed attraction, large or small, with contact information. Spring Training included. Retail $8.95.

Whether you're actually planning a baseball road trip, or just dreaming of one, it's a great tool. It's also, truth be told, a lot of fun to explore without a trip in mind. And there's something new every year... who know this would be the year when two teams would be named after Canadian fur traders?

Want this information for your wall? Consider the Baseball Wall Map, also updated (actually even more updated... there have been some shifts in the independent leagues since the Baseball Travel Map went to the printers). No attractions on this map, but in the "square" version you also get mini-maps of each league.

Welcome to Hedberg Maps' new blog! We've promised for years to create a newsletter, or an email newsletter, to let our friends know what we've been up to. We finally realized this was the ideal way to do it. Nat Case, our head of production, has been blogging on things carto-philosophical at at MapHead for almost two years, and he'll be the main manager of the blog, but expect to hear from other members of the team as we progress.